India is bracing itself for a dock strike on December 14 at all major ports involving 100,000 workers protesting the privatisation of harbour facilities and the removal of traditional work practises and manning scales, reports the Press Trust of India.The union wants to stop the privatisation of existing facilities and demands that workers should have the right of employment in the new projects. "The strike is being organised against the unilaterally imposed guidelines for wage revision and delay in constituting bipartite wage negotiating committee by Ministry of Shipping," said All India Port & Dock Workers' Federation president S R Kulkarni. All affiliated unions of the federation have served notice of coming strike action to port authorities and dock labour boards at all the major ports in the country.
The union demands that 50 per cent expense allowance, known as a "dearness allowance" (DA), be included in the basic pay package. It also demands a retirement age of 60, and that all "vacancies" be filled and that jobs be awarded on compassionate grounds, that all "perennial jobs should be done by port workers and that contracting of jobs be brought to an end".
The union demands that 50 per cent expense allowance, known as a "dearness allowance" (DA), be included in the basic pay package. It also demands a retirement age of 60, and that all "vacancies" be filled and that jobs be awarded on compassionate grounds, that all "perennial jobs should be done by port workers and that contracting of jobs be brought to an end".